Gongshang Yan

This early classic of Golden Age Shanghai cinema echoes Visconti's classic La Terra Trema in its beautifully rendered story of a humble silk-farming family struggling to be free of debt to exploitative middlemen.

1930's China. The village of a poor family is taken over by the occupying Japanese army. One son, Zhongliang, leaves his wife and young son to join a medic group for the Chinese Army. The other son, Zhangmin goes into hiding to protect his family. The focus shifts back and forth from the brothers' parents and Zhongliang's wife and son to Zhongliang's newfound life of luxury in a town not too far away. The plight of Zhongliang's mother, his wife, Sufan and her son, Kongeson is contrasted with Zhongliang's rise in a flourishing company.

A primary school teacher rallies the citizens of a small town to resist the corruption of the local government and unite to build reinforcements against an oncoming flood.

After a flood, the Sea Charity Association sends Liu Hao Ming to a village to direct the burial of corpses. Hao Ming meets the singer Ruyun and her father there, and advises Ruyun not to sing a beautiful song, but to sing “The Beauty of Yu” instead, which Ruyun obeys to the full applause of the audience, but arouses the displeasure of a butcher, Sa-zuo, and others. When the flood comes again, the village people go to Shanghai to evacuate. Sa-zuo and the others ask Hao-ming for help, and Hao-ming leads them to an empty mansion to spend the night, where they run into Ruyun's father and learn that Ruyun has been separated. A female ghost haunts the house and they all escape from the house. Hao Ming does not see Ruyun's father and goes back to look for him, but he sees that the female ghost is Ruyun.

Qi can't stand the family she's been married into tries to escape. On the day that she escapes, her sister-in-law is killed by her nephew. Qi becomes a suspect and is arrested. After being released from prison, Qi decides to take revenge on society. She makes a living betraying her lust and hangs out in various places with unconventional people. She meets Zou Wenlan, and the two fall in love and plan to start a new life together. However, the Zou family strongly opposes the marriage, and the two are separated. Qi jumps into the sea and commits suicide. Facing Qi's tombstone, Zou Wenlan and and his family are full of sorrow and repentance.

« Xiao Feng », « Petit Phénix », charmante et espiègle souillon de la campagne, vit avec son père dans une épave de bateau. Jiang Bo, peintre issu d’une riche famille shanghaienne, conduisant une gigantesque décapotable coude à la portière, choisit la délicieuse impertinente comme modèle bucolique, voire davantage. Mais un premier coup de théâtre surgit : pendant que Feng pose voluptueusement dans un cadre idyllique, Hu Jin, créancier de son père, propose d’annuler la dette pour se marier avec la fille.

The New Year's Gift is the story of some lucky money gifted to a girl. It then leaves her and passes from hand to hand.

This movie is based on the famous Chinese folklore that is more than one and a half millennium old. The same folklore was what the Disney animation Mulan is based on, and similarly, it was what many Chinese movies/operas/plays based on.